Yerevan Center Urban Parks and Garden Squares: Places for People, Places of Meanings

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2022-1(2)-157-184

Harutyun Vermishyan
Yerevan State University, Armenia
[email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-2464-0072

Lilit Barseghyan
Socials Expert Centre Researcher, Yerevan, Armenia
[email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0001-9793-8828

Abstract

In the article, urban parks and garden squares are considered the most important places that form and/or demonstrate the image and culture of the city. The physical spaces of urban parks and garden squares allow for organizing urban everyday practices, which are the basis for reproducing the social structure. In this perspective, it is essential to describe the components of the public spaces of Yerevan city the public space of urban parks and garden squares as spaces of socially structured everyday practices. The purpose of this article is to present the characteristics of the formation and transformation of the physical, social, and symbolic structures of the public spaces of urban gardens and parks in Yerevan with reference to the particularities of the formation and development of public space. For that purpose, a qualitative study was conducted. Methods of document analysis, thematic interviews, mental mapping, observations, and expert interviews were implemented. Local parks (Children's Park, English Park, and Lovers' Park) and garden squares (Al. Tamanyan, Misak Manushyan, M. Saryan, and Komitas) were chosen as the main target places. Grounded on D. Simon's triadic interpretation of place, the data analysis allows the description of the issues of formation and transformation of physical, social, and symbolic structures of Yerevan Center urban parks and garden squares.

Keywords: Urban Park, Garden Square, Urban Space, Place, People in Place, Geographical Ensemble, Genius Loci, Mental Maps.

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About author

Harutyun R. Vermishyan
Yerevan State University, Armenia
E-mail: [email protected]

Lilit A. Barseghyan
“Socies” expert centre, Yerevan, Armenia
E-mail: [email protected]

For citation:
Vermishyan H., Barseghyan L. Yerevan Center Urban Parks and Garden Squares: Places for People, Places of Meanings. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City. 2022. 1 (2). P. 157-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2022-1(2)-157-184